Sirius's despair was fleeting. He soon glared at the rat as if he'd found the perfect outlet for all his stress.
He looked ready to fire a spell at the creature at any moment, but he quickly stopped himself, seemingly realizing he didn't want to show Harry such a sight.
I asked Sirius, "So, what's the plan now?"
"What do you mean?"
"The rat. Even with Peter alive, proving your innocence is going to be an uphill battle."
The hopelessly old-fashioned Ministry of Magic might not even overturn Sirius's conviction, even with the clear evidence of Peter Pettigrew right in front of them. They would probably argue that Pettigrew being alive didn't necessarily prove Sirius was innocent.
Besides, Sirius was an escaped convict from Azkaban. Officially, he was a dead man.
To appeal to the Ministry, he'd have to reveal his identity. There was no telling what would happen if it came out that he had escaped from Azkaban and faked his death.
Sirius grunted, apparently not having considered these points.
Exasperated, I asked, "Seriously, what have you been doing all this time? You're a man who's spent years in this spacious house with nothing to do but fantasize about revenge, and you still haven't come up with a plan?"
"Well, I… I just thought that if I could prove Peter was alive, everything would work out somehow."
Seeing the clueless Sirius, Harry asked with a worried expression, "Master, does that mean it will be hard for Sirius to be cleared even if we catch Peter?"
"Perhaps. But there's someone who knows more about this sort of thing than I do. It would be better to ask him."
I pictured Albus sitting in the Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts.
If it were a matter of simply overthrowing the Ministry, I could handle things much more cleanly. But since that wasn't the goal, Albus would be far more adept in this area.
Come to think of it, what had Albus been doing all this time? From what I'd heard, Sirius had been a member of the Order of the Phoenix. If one of his own subordinates was locked up in Azkaban, shouldn't he have at least visited to hear his side of the story?
At any rate, Sirius's expression brightened. "Ah, yes! Professor Dumbledore will be able to help me."
He declared he needed to write a letter, then hastily snatched up Peter in one hand and rushed into a room.
Kreacher watched him go with a look of utter disdain.
"Kreacher, come to think of it, I have a gift for you too."
"What? A gift for Kreacher?"
Kreacher looked as if he couldn't believe the bizarre words he was hearing. I handed him a necklace made from the broken pieces of Slytherin's locket.
For the record, it was Harry who had suggested it, thinking it wouldn't be right to give Sirius a gift and leave Kreacher with nothing.
Upon receiving the gift we offered, Kreacher's eyes widened beyond belief.
"Kreeeeaaaaaaagh!"
Then, with an unidentifiable shriek, he fainted.
The scream was filled with pure ecstasy, so I figured there was nothing to worry about.
And so, we were the only ones left in the drawing-room of the Black residence.
Harry and I looked at each other for a moment, then, with an unspoken agreement, walked out of the house.
"It seems they were both a bit too happy with their gifts."
"It certainly seems that way."
*
Leaving the, in many ways, chaotic visit to the Black family behind us, we returned to the Savoy Hotel in London.
While we were out, a hotel employee who had entered the room for cleaning service had apparently seen the cauldron and freaked out, but the incident was erased by an Obliviate from the Elder Constable.
I took my old wand from my pocket and handed it to Harry.
"As you know, underage wizards are restricted from using magic during the holidays. Let's use this wand for practice."
When magic is used, it generates a magical signature. The Ministry detects the use of magic by underage wizards by sensing these signatures around them.
However, their detection method is hopelessly flawed. If there's an adult wizard nearby, they can't determine which of the two cast the spell. We could use this loophole to practice magic freely.
Because Dumbledore had never reported my information to the Ministry, any magic I used would be treated as the magic of a missing adult wizard named Aisen Knightly.
Of course, if things got serious, they could use methods like Priori Incantatem to check the spells cast by a wand, which was why I had given Harry my wand instead of his, just in case.
On top of that, I had placed various additional enchantments, such as a barrier to minimize the magical signature, so there was virtually no risk.
My gut instinct was to just use magic freely and overturn the Ministry if they came for us, but I restrained myself. The 20th century should have methods befitting the 20th century, shouldn't it?
In any case, the magic Harry was so eager to learn by circumventing the law was mind magic—specifically, Occlumency and Legilimency.
Harry sat in a tense cross-legged position on the marble floor.
It wasn't a posture he was used to, and he kept fidgeting uncomfortably. Watching him, I said, "Harry, this isn't particularly useful historical knowledge, but for your reference: the birthplace of magic is around Tibet. Even after the mainstream of magic shifted to the West, they continued to build upon their own unique magic. The posture you're in now is one of their magical training methods. It's good for focusing the mind."
"I know, but my legs are uncomfortable…"
After a moment of grumbling, Harry took a deep breath and centered himself.
Watching him, I said, "Alright, Harry. Before we learn Legilimency, let's start with Occlumency. You need to know how to defend before you can attack, right?"
"Yes."
The basic concept of Occlumency is to build a barrier in the mind. A Legilimens attempting to read an Occlumens's mind will be deflected.
Of course, someone who can use Occlumency freely can do more than just build a barrier; they can manipulate their mind so skillfully that the Legilimens won't even realize Occlumency is being used against them.
I explained this to Harry.
"Do you understand, Harry? Occlumency is fundamentally a magic that holds an absolute advantage over Legilimency. Even I can't read the mind of a skilled Occlumens."
Of course, in such cases, I could just use other methods. Like Aguamenti, for instance.
Harry listened intently, nodding his head.
"Good, Harry. Now, try to empty your mind of all stray thoughts. Make it completely blank so that your opponent can't read anything from you."
Harry exhaled sharply.
I looked into his eyes and continuously used Legilimency, guiding him to make the memories I could see grow fainter and fainter.
"Harry, there are no ghosts in this room, so don't worry about that. The school year is still far away, so forget about Quidditch. I know you're happy to be learning magic from me again after so long, but try to clear that feeling too. Good, that's it. You're doing great."
Harry's mind had taken a great leap forward after defeating Quirrell and Voldemort.
It wasn't just that his mind was more complex than his peers'; the biggest factor was that he had been able to learn about the fear of death and the courage to overcome it.
Harry could probably see Thestrals now.
As such, Harry's ability to control his own mind was quite exceptional.
As I performed Legilimency, I could see the thoughts I pointed out to him gradually fading. Considering that trying to clear a thought usually makes one think of it more, this was truly remarkable.
"Good. Very good. Let's try to maintain this state for a little longer."
Finally, we reached a point where all of Harry's thoughts and memories appeared only faintly in my vision. With more practice, nothing should be visible at all, but it was too much to expect that level from Harry, who was just beginning.
He maintained the state for about a minute. Beads of cold sweat formed on his face, and soon, his memories began to come back into focus.
*Clap.* I clapped my hands and said, "Alright, that's enough. You did well, Harry."
"Harry, here's a towel."
"Thanks, Deek."
Harry took the towel Deek offered and wiped his sweat-dampened, curly hair. "This is exhausting, even after just a little while."
I chuckled. "Of course it is. Mind magic is an advanced art that most wizards can't use, and Occlumency and Legilimency are among the most difficult of them all."
I doubted there were even a hundred people in the 20th century who were proficient in both Occlumency and Legilimency. Considering the already small wizarding population, the number was likely even lower.
Hearing my words, Harry just grinned. "But I'm your disciple, aren't I? Of course I'll be able to master it."
I nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Of course. Look who's teaching him.
"Alright, if you've had enough rest, let's go again."
"Yes!"
*
About three weeks later.
The time Harry could faintly maintain his Occlumency barrier had stretched to over ten minutes. He was still a long way from being able to use it passively without conscious effort, but it was still what one would call tremendous progress.
Exhausted from another day of practice, Harry asked me, "Master, how long did it take you to learn Occlumency?"
"As you know, Occlumency isn't part of the standard Hogwarts curriculum, is it?"
"Right."
"Then where do you think I would have learned Occlumency and Legilimency?"
"Hmm, I don't know. Did you learn from famous figures around you?"
"That was one way, but I used a simpler method. I learned Legilimency by rummaging through the minds of Dark wizards, and I learned Occlumency by defending against their Legilimency, just as the books described."
"Oh…"
"So, it would be better to ask how many people it took, rather than how long."
"Then how many people did it take?"
"Ten for Occlumency, four for Legilimency."
It wasn't so much that Occlumency was hard to learn, but rather that there were very few Dark wizards who could use Legilimency. On top of that, whenever I tried to ask for a lesson, they would resist until I eventually had to kill them, which naturally made things difficult.
As I shared my troubles, Harry stared at me with a fed-up expression. "I knew I shouldn't have asked a genius."
I chuckled. "Still, Harry, you can do something even I can't, right?"
"Is there something like that?"
"Parseltongue. Even I can't speak the language of snakes."
"Oh, right. There is that."
Using Legilimency, I could read their general emotions, but understanding their exact thoughts, let alone speaking to them, was difficult.
"And from what I know, if you properly master Parseltongue, you can go beyond just speaking to snakes and actually command them."
"I can command them?"
"Yes. During your final test before entering Hogwarts, you stopped that Runespoor from moving, didn't you? In a broad sense, that falls under the category of a command."
I had heard that further development would allow for more active commands.
A look of interest crossed Harry's face. "Hmm, maybe I should practice my Parseltongue more then, since it's something only I can do. People always say you should develop what you're already good at."
I tapped Harry on the head. "While that's also a good idea, let's focus on mastering Occlumency first."
"Ouch. Okay."
I didn't bother telling Harry, but Parseltongue was a skill with clear limitations anyway.
What good would being able to communicate with snakes really do?
It would be a different story if an XXXXX-class snake monster like a Basilisk just happened to fall out of the sky.
I smirked, thinking of the magical creature said to be even rarer than a dragon.
*
Meanwhile, at Malfoy Manor.
A disheveled Lucius, a far cry from his usual dignified self, was rummaging through the family's underground vault.
His platinum-blond hair, always impeccably sleek, was a mess, and his eyes were sunken. At last, Lucius found a certain object and pulled it out.
With bloodshot eyes, Lucius muttered, "Yes, with this…"
He could open the Chamber of Secrets.
Unaware of what lay within the Chamber, Lucius Malfoy broke into a wide grin.
***